Actress Haruna Kawaguchi was in Tokyo for the presscon of her movie Madame Marmalade no Ijou na Nazo. She personally opened the topic about her drama Otto no Kanojo (Thursdays-9 pm, TBS), the first episode of which marked only 4.7%, and revealed that she is "scared of these numbers".The drama is about contractual worker Hoshimi (Kawaguchi) being mistaken by her boss' wife as his lover. After an argument, their bodies mysteriously get switched. This is her first time playing the lead role in a serial drama on prime time TV.When Kawaguchi was asked, "What are you scared about?" concerning the movie, she brought up the news that her drama only got 4.7% and said, "I've been scared of numbers since yesterday. Everything is being judged by the numbers"."I'm scared and disappointed." "But I sincerely believe that we have created a good show. I want a lot of people to watch it, and I won't flinch as I will keep on making wonderful programs for the viewers. Please watch Otto no Kanojo on TBS, every Thursday at 9!"

The TBS drama Kurokouchi has only just started, yet already it has received complaints from the viewers.

The scene in question came in episode 1. The female detective Seike, played by Ayame Gouriki, wet herself after getting surprised due to the gunshot. Kurokouchi, played by Tomoya Nagase, then proceeded to take a photo of this on his smart phone. This photo was then used by Kurokouchi in episode 2 to blackmail Seike saying that he would "pass the photo around unless details of the investigation were given" to him. Some viewers apparently found this as a form of sexual harassment and power harassment.

According to one of TBS' staff: "We received complaints of contempt regarding the wetting scene, and ethical complaints as to how a male detective treats a female".

On the Internet, some people have been praising the said scene, but some have said that the producers only did this for publicity. "The story is robust in this drama that has an outlaw as the lead. You can say that this drama has been very bold in going against the conventional drama formulas by even showing a dead woman's entire body without even hiding the breasts. And the scene where the character wet herself isn't that horrible that it should be considered a problem by the BPO (Broadcasting Ethics & Program Improvement Organization), so I think that they just wanted to create buzz." - (broadcast writer)

There were some comments on the Internet saying, "I'll watch this every week since I was able to see Gouriki wet herself". The first episode got 12% which is pretty average, but there are also some people saying that Gouriki wasn't bad at all in this, even if she may have quite a lot of haters.

According to some reports, Gouriki's agency did not oppose to her wetting herself in the story, and that they even said "it's alright if it really is necessary in the story". "And Kurokouchi's partner is a man in the original manga, so fans of the original wouldn't have approved of Gouriki being cast here. Perhaps her agency had to give the go signal to these indelicate scenes in exchange for forcing her to be in the drama."

The BPO did not give any comments regarding this. Even TBS refrained from commenting further, stating, "We have received the opinions of some of our viewers, but we will not be commenting on this matter".

The awarding ceremony for the Megane* Best Dresser Award was held on the 9th, at Tokyo Big Sight in Ariake. (*megane - eyeglass)

Emi Takei (19) won the "special award" this year. She has almost never worn glasses in any previous roles that she has played, and few people associate her with glasses. The special award is given to the personality whom they "want to see wearing glasses", rather than giving recognition to the people who look good wearing one.

In the presscon that followed, Takei was asked: "Do you know who won the award last year?"

"Takei answered, 'Yes I do, it's Gou-chan (Ayame Gouriki, 21)', with a smile on her face. She could have stopped there, but she followed it up with, 'I told my manager that I wanted one as well'." - (showbiz writer)

Gouriki is from the same agency as Takei. She's been hoarding all awards left and right and has been called "Gori-oshi" (overhyped, or excessively pushed) on the Internet and by other sectors, which has apparently bothered her.

"The journalist who asked that question could have also stopped there, but he followed it up with, 'Oh, so it's with the help of your agency's authority'. And because of this, the air in the arena froze for a while."

Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Ex-AKB48 member Sayaka Akimoto (25) released her 1st photobook Ari no mama at Shibuya's Tower Records.In the book, she opens up about her inferiority complex of having a Filipina mother and a Japanese father, saying: "I may be a halfie, but it's different from being half-American or half-British. It was really hard to say that I'm half-Filipino"."I kept thinking 'What am I?' for 7 and a half years while I was spending time together with all these other idols like Mayuyu and Yuko. But I am able to stay active and have work because of my shoulder width that's bigger than anyone else's in AKB, and my muscles. I cherished these traits as these define who I really am." "Now I am proud when I say that I'm half-Filipino, and I hope that I can give give a helping hand to everyone else who are half-bred and is in the same situation as I was, and people who have no confidence".And with her graduation from AKB48 last August, she is now freed from the "no-relationships" rule. She was asked at the event if she has "found love", to which she replied, "Nothing has changed at all." "Maybe, if I meet someone nice". About her type of man, she said: "I'm a really troublesome girl, so I'd like someone who can accept that, and people like those persistent goats"."I may look like a herbivore, but I actually like carnivorous men who are like meat rolled in cabbage leaves. Like the ones whom you send 1 text message to but reply with 5." She smiles and follows this up with: "I'm the type who totally gets absorbed in a relationship. If I fall too much in love with a person, I might not be able to work anymore".Akimoto has also declared that she will try her best as an actress. "It's true that Yuko has stimulated that feeling in me. We've spent our youth together each and every single day in AKB, so I think that both of us have something to offer as actresses".

Masami Nagasawa (26) was at Tokyo's Roppongi Hills Arena on the 18th for a talk show event at the Tokyo International Movie festival. Nagasawa came out wearing a mini skirt against the backdrop of posters of her movie Kiyoku Yawaku.

Tori Matsuzaka will be in the December issue of Numero TOKYO. Matsuzaka, one of the top young actors in the country, has constantly been busy with dramas, movies, and stage plays.

Despite this, he says that "not a single woman has confessed her love to me".

He analyzes himself and says: "I've put up some kind of barrier unconsciously and have been creating some distance".

He then talks about what his type is: "A person who has this animalistic and wild natural feel to her". He was also asked as to what he would do if someone confesses to her: "I don't think I'll be able to keep my feet on the ground, and I'll probably ask a lot of people about it. (laughs)"

Model Akemi Darenogare was on VS ARASHI last Oct. 24, and her comment about Kazunari Ninomiya has stirred up some buzz on the Internet.

Darenogare said that Ninomiya "looked at me in a perverted way" when they were together on a program before. JOY, another guest in this episode sensed danger and immediately said, "Things will get out of hand if you say stuff like that to Arashi", as the studio burst into laughter.

After this, there were some Twitter users who showed some concern on Darenogare's Twitter account, with comments like: "How are things over here? No flame wars yet?", "I watched VS ARASHI♪ Everything still calm here?". Darenogare replied to these and said, "Thanks for watching VS Arashi! My Twitter's still fine, no signs of fire here☆ I had a great time~☆", as she proudly showed that there was no harm done.

But this actually became a trending topic among Arashi fans for a while, as there was even a hashtag #Let's prove that Kazunari Ninomiya's eyes are perverted, and the word "Darenogare Akemi" was at the top of Yahoo's trending keyword searches for a while.

Saturday, October 26, 2013

The drama series Amachan which was broadcast on NHK from April to September nabs the grand prix for a Drama Series at the Tokyo Drama Awards 2013. With Rena Nounen winning the best actress award, Kyoko Koizumi as best supporting actress, and Kankuro Kudo taking home the best screenplay award, Amachan emerged as huge winners of the night, running away with a total of 7 awards.The Tokyo Drama Awards gives recognition to the marketability and profitability of dramas with the concept "Japanese dramas that we can proudly present to the rest of the world". It was the main event in the "International Drama Festival in TOKYO", and is the 6th time these awards have been handed out. Kaseifu no Mita (NTV) took home the grand prize last year.These awards covered dramas that were aired from July 1 2012 to June 30, 2013.(Full results after the jump, including all the past winners)Source: http://mantan-web.jp/2013/10/22/20131022dog00m200004000c.html

"Ratings Queen" and "Mr. Ratings"... These are the titles given to the talents who can attract viewers. If we go with the recent trend, the former will be Ryoko Yonekura while the latter is Masato Sakai. But there are also the opposite, the "anti-ratings talents" who make the people change channels once they're shown on TV.And according to some research done at TV stations..."Recently, it's Nana Suzuki and Serina. People either love or hate these two; it's either "They're cute" or "They're pathetic and irritating". They don't stand out too much on the hinadan (tiered platforms) talk shows due to the number of guests, but when these 2 are the featured guests, the ratings almost certainly take a plunge.""It has to be Minako, Big Daddy's ex-wife. We had high hopes for her since her book became a bestseller. But the moment she appears on camera, we were really shocked when all the graphs went down. She's just a normal person after all without the golden label of "Big Daddy" pinned on her. All that's left for her is to get married again.""There's also Mr. Koji Tamaki. He's had a lot of things going on with his private life for a few years now, right? It already showed in the ratings even from around the time of his divorce with Hiroko Yakushimaru and his DV against Mari Ishihara.""And then there's also Kuniko Asagi and her affair scandal. When compared to an animal, she's called a snake.""But there are also some people who seem to have graduated from the "anti-ratings talent" label, such as the manga artist Yoshikazu Ebisu. He made a comeback on TV Tokyo's Local rosen Bus no tabi, and he's never short of project proposals since. It seems that his current age of 66 has finally caught up to the grossness that he possesses. "Who are the talents who would make you change channels?

Artist Jin Akanishi is featured in the December issue of VoCE. It has a long interview, spread across 6 pages.Akanishi wore a black suit in one picture and a cable knit top in another, and sealed his smile -- seemingly straying away from his idol persona.He talked about the time of his hiatus up to his comeback, as well as his new song "Ainaru Hou e". He also revealed some stuff about his solo works while he was still with KAT-TUN.Akanishi, the man who stayed true to himself as he continuously broke the "taboos" of being an idol by studying abroad, leaving his group, and getting married... When this topic came up, Jin commented: "I think I've been gradually trying to destroy this 'something' for quite some time now, it's not like I was trying to go up against these so called 'taboos' ". Akanishi naturally commented: "I just thought of growing up freely, normally..."He also talked about his obsession with composing. He said that he's already used computers in composing since he was 20 and comments: "Were the equipment expensive? It was nothing! Because I was actually earning a lot! At least, to buy these equipment (laughs)."Source: http://mdpr.jp/review/detail/1291888